So Cal Cyclocross Courses?
 

Hey there. I'm building up my first CX bike and plan to race this season. What can I expect from the courses here in Southern California? Any specific recommendations you would give a noob based on type of courses most commonly used. Mud? Hills? Pavement? All of the above?

I'm most likely going to run a mix of Sram Rival and Force. At least for my first season I plan on running a 36/46 up front and 12-27 in back. Any other suggestions. Thanks.

practice your dismounts, barriers, remounting. that will be the biggest thing.
other than that, practice with the groups around here and have fun at the races.

very little mud most of the time, plenty of grass, most hills will be short, lots of tight courses with lots and lots of turns, seems like there are less barriers than the old days.

I don't know if you'll end up using that 27T.

Funny. I was thinking just the opposite. I'd stick on a 34 tooth small chainring and go for a 11-28 cassette. The hills that we encounter aren't particularly long, but they can be pretty steep, especially after about a 1/2 hour of racing. You might not need the tractor gears at places like the Irvine course, but coming up the hill(s) on the 'Storm the Beach' course you will.

People will argue that it's quicker to run up these really steep places, but I find it's better to stay on the bike and grind it out. Off, run and then back on the bike takes time and energy that is better spent elsewhere.

A Rival build by itself is really nice for 'cross. Throwing Force stuff in there is a little unnecessary, but helps on the coolness factor.

depends on the course. at glendale and hansen dam maybe not but at pierce college you will.

i think the 36 will be nice. on my cross bike i've got a 48/34. the 48's a little big and the 34's a little small. on an old road bike that i sometimes use for cross i've got a 48/39. the 39's a little big for me. i think a lot of it will have to do with your speed and pedaling style, i suck at everything that is not sprinting. the guys at the front of the race will be using different gears than the guys in back (i'm assuming, i have no idea what the front of a cross race looks like, well except the the second wave of singlespeeders who start after us and come flying by me halfway through the first lap)

We must be side by side, then. I tend to be a spinner. I run a single front (39) and a wide cassette (11-32). It's not perfect, because the splits can be large, but it's not a bad overall combo. I've never ran out of gear on the top end (I can spin to about 35mph on it, how long are you gonna hold that anyway?). For comparison on a 34, you could hit about 30mph (120 cadence). On turf, I spend a lot of my time between 15 and 20 mph. That's right in the middle of the cassette on a 34, but it's on the big cog end in a 46.

Montrose Bike Shop puts out a mailing list every now and then. The current one mentions that they'll be having a cyclocross clinic this Thrusday (8/13/09). They're going to do some cross bike demos at Verdugo park in Glendale. You might want to check it out. There might be a possiblity that you'll have a chance to ride different bikes with different gear settings, ultimately helping you make your final decisions on gearing.